In 2023, Murphy had a 3.70 FIP, third on BOS with 0.9 HR/9, 73rd percentile xERA, 85th percentile av exit velo and 87th percentile hard hit %. Why is he DFA'able?
It'll be interesting to see who gets more 3B reps in ST. Is Grissom a better fit over there? Campbell is a legitimate 2B unlike Grissom. Putting Campbell at 3B and Grissom at 2B is just playing two guys out of position.
Rafaela could be the Super UTIL guy. He'd be overpaid for that, but he could be that.
Then Anthony is called up and? He's a pull hitter from both sides. Statcast has him losing 13 HR's last year if he played every game at Fenway. A pull hitter from the left side isn't great IMO. He's also under 800 OPS the past two seasons against LHP. He makes more sense as a DH IF they needed one.
I would say that there are more areas to upgrade defensively than just 3B.
Catcher - bottom 5 in 2024, 30th in framing
2B - 29th in OAA
SS - 28th in OAA
If they DFA Yoshida, I think it takes them out of the Japan market for several years. They need to be careful in how they treat him.
I would have Flaherty above Bello, I'm not sure the Sox would.
OPS After 8/15
Rafaela 523
Duran 780
Abreu 639
Casas 773
Story 790
Devers 568
Wong 667
Grissom 787
Hamilton 714
Refsnyder 749
Gonzalez 595
Masa 753
The team was definitely in a funk. I'm not so sure this has a carryover into the new year.
I'd be willing to trade Casas in order to get Devers over to 1B/DH. Then you can add Vlad next offseason via FA and deal Masa. They'd need a short term acquisition for 3B unless they are willing to start the season with Campbell there.
1B Devers
2B Campbell
SS Story
3B Mayer
Who is Flaherty kicking out of the rotation? How long is that contract with his bad back?
Where is Alonso going if 1B/DH already have fulltime players? DFA'ing Masa?
I think his contract is fair value for what he provides. If they trade him, they are going to have to replicate his value from somewhere else. This will be his age 28 season so he still has a lot of PRIME years left.
I think it would really depend on the return. The Devers extension was seen as ownership finally valuing the team again and not cheapening out. Them moving on from their only long term guy seems to really thumb their nose at that yet again. It's not necessarily as shocking as the Mookie trade, but man it would be ROUGH. I think Raffy will hit for a long time. Getting rid of him makes little sense to me. There should always be room on the roster for productive players. Why move on from them?
I'd rather deal for Vlad and pair him with Devers than dump Devers. How does dealing away a strength make the team better later on when Vlad is brought in? Seems like a lateral move if anything.
They know how clickbaity their projections are! How else are they going to get that ad revenue up? Now that they've soft locked a lot more articles, what else are people going there for?
You can only have 13 guys up at one time. Most of which can't be optioned back to AAA. If Anthony is called up, who is being moved off the BOS roster: Rafaela, Duran, Refsnyder, Masa, Abreu or RHB acquisiton? They wouldn't carry a 7th OF/DH guy.